Does your e-mail address say you’re a psychopath?

PublishedAugust 10, 2012

The first thing I know about a person is often their e-mail address. From that small scrap of information, I start building an image of what the person is like. If you think first impressions are important, think about what your e-mail address says about you. Your e-mail address is often the first element of your personal brand.

Some people use their e-mail addresses to identify their hobbies or interests, like bookworm@xyz.com or bikerbob@wxy.com. But I’m usually more interested in the information after the @ sign. If I receive an e-mail from an @aol.com address, I think the sender is over the hill and out of date. If it comes from a cable company (e.g. @comcast.net), I think they’re not very technically astute. If they change cable companies, they’ll have to change their e-mail address as well. How boring!

I thought I might be alone in these perceptions so I was interested to learn that no less an authority than the New York Times‘ David Pogue has similar biases. In an article in yesterday’s Times, Pogue introduced Microsoft’s new e-mail service. In passing, Pogue referred back to Microsoft’s previous service, Hotmail. Pogue writes that, “Even today, a Hotmail address still says ‘unsophisticated loser’ in some circles.”

For these reasons, I was deeply disappointed when Apple tried to shift its e-mail service from @mac.com to @me.com. My e-mail address has long been a variant of myname@mac.com. Part of my personal brand is that I use a Mac. It’s OK with me if people know that. Maybe they’ll think that I “think different”. When Apple changed it to me.com, I was horrified. In my humble opinion, anyone who uses an e-mail address of myname@me.com is self-centered at best or a psychopath at worst. Even if I think “it’s all about me” (and I do sometimes), I don’t want to project it in my personal brand. Thankfully, I can still use @mac.com designation and I hope I always will.

I teach my students that they need to think about their personal brand. It’s important for getting a job or a promotion. Your brand is a combination of how you behave, how you speak, how you dress, and so on. Each of those sends clues about who you are and whether you’d be good teammate or not. When you think about your brand, begin at the beginning — your e-mail address.

2 Responses to Does your e-mail address say you’re a psychopath?

Hey, nice to know I’m not the only one. I teach my student and advise my clients against generic Hotmail, MSN, Gmail.com addresses. Nothing screams temporary or shady like a free, non-branded web address for business purposes.

Not alone in my tight grasp of my @mac.com address. Of course, I still own LPs too, even if I never play them (must be sentimental). But it seemed most appropriate that my children are pleased with their “all about me” @me.com addresses (so fitting for teenage years) and their refusal to “go bland” with iCloud.com…